National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1852
My name is Tahnee and I have been an occupational therapist for 23 years. I have worked my entire career working with children and 21 years in private practice in Sydney. I have worked in private practice prior and saw FaHCSIA come in and out as well as NDIS through its conception, implementation and all the reviews.
I am very concerned for my clients with the new NDIS Bill and changes suggested. Also with the campaign against providers and people with a disability. The NDIS is not ä scheme for fraudsters”as Mark Butler stated during his budget speech. IT is a scheme to support our most vulnerable people with disability and our high skilled female small business allied health providers. The providers who are involved in criminal activity need to be pursued and charged. This should be in the revised NDIS Bill which it is not.
NDIS needs to continue with individual needs and functional capacity with their disability. Disability is lifelong but changes. There needs to be flexibility and not a one size fits all. For many of our clients with Autism their functional capacity improves with therapy, however for someone with a deteriorating disability like MND, their functional capacity decreases and can do so in a very short period of time. NDIS reform cannot be set amounts and in set time frames as everybody and every disability is different. This then impacts the flexibility that is needed around permanence.
In addition we cannot expect parents to take the burden of care for their kids with a disability. Many of the parents we work with are already on the edge of burnout, decreasing their work hours and increasing their burden on counselling and psychological support. The impact on parents with an increase to their expected informal supports as children with a disability needs increased intensity, frequency and complexity which does not decrease with age. Toileting a child with Autism at 12 or managing nappies at 12 is not typical expected parent responsibilities.
The Supports Needs assessment is another area of concern and needs a skilled and trained therapist to be able to identity needs in relation to disability and function. Again, an one size fits all approach using the ICAN is inadequate to assess and make appropriate recommendations.
Additionally, changes to the value for money (p26) which has now removed “with the same outcome”, is dangerous and a safety and efficiency concern. If a lower price support is available but with reduced outcomes, that is not an adequate support.
And finally, there needs to be governance and a safety net around 100% ministerial powers for funding cuts. There needs to be assurances and fair rules. It is not reasonable for a minister/ representative of a minister to have this power to cut up to 100% individual funding which impacts people with a disability daily lives.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1852